Saturday, April 14, 2012

The billboard was placed above a restaurant, which had nothing to do with the ad. It was taken down quickly.

A billboard in Little Havana advertising a video that defends five notorious Cuban spies was taken down just hours after it went up, amid anonymous phone threats that a restaurant beneath the sign would be attacked.

Max Lesnick, a Radio Miami commentator who regularly demands the release of the five spies tried in Miami in 2001 and sentenced to long prison terms, said the Alianza Martiana paid for the advertisement. Lesnick is also one of the leaders of the Alianza.

The ad went up on a billboard on the roof of a restaurant on the corner of 1st Street and 17th Avenue SW around noon Wednesday and was already down by about 7 p.m. , Lesnick said.

He and the Alianza were behind two previous ads defending the spies. Exiles who criticized those advertisements branded them as provocations and asked if Miami Beach Jews would not force down any billboards praising Adolf Hitler.

“If the Jews do that, it would be wrong, too,” said Lesnick, a Jewish Cuban. “We will put up our billboard every chance we get because that’s the right we have” to free speech.

Lesnick said the Alianza Martiana paid $3,500 to the Sarasota-based CBS Billboards for a 30-day display of the ad. There was no immediate word on whether the Alianza would get its money back, he told El Nuevo Herald.

The ad promoted a video, titled Freedom and available on Radio Miami’s web page, in which the president of Cuba’s legislative National Assembly of People’s Power, Ricardo Alarcon, defends the Cuban spies and demands their return home.

On the right side of the billboard was a large “5” — the emblem of the Cuban government’s campaign to free the spies — and to the left was an image of an open hand over the words “Give me Five,” in English.

Lesnick said the ad originally said “Obama Give me Five,” but CBS asked that the president’s name be removed to avoid complications with U.S. advertising regulations in an election year.

The billboard’s location in Little Havana — on the roof of a building that houses a Honduran restaurant, La Casa de las Baleadas — was the only one available when the agreement was signed, he added.

“This is simply an advertisement for a radio program,” Lesnick claimed.

Restaurant owner Liliana Vasquez said she received several anonymous phone threats Wednesday, including one saying, “We’re going to destroy your place.” She called police, she said, and a CBS employee visited her Thursday to apologize for the incident.

The five Cubans were convicted in 2001 of conspiring to spy on South Florida’s exile community, the Pentagon’s U.S. Southern Command in Miami and U.S. military airstrips in Tampa and the Florida Keys.

Four remain in prison, including Gerardo Hernández, serving two life sentences on a charge of murder conspiracy stemming from his role in Cuba’s shoot down of two Miami-based civilian airplanes in 1996, killing all four men aboard.

The fifth, Rene Gonzalez, completed his 13-year prison sentence and was freed, but still must serve three years of probation. A judge recently gave him permission to go to Cuba for two weeks to visit a brother reportedly dying from cancer.

Havana officials have confirmed the five are intelligence agents, but claimed they were in South Florida only to spy on radical Cuban exiles who might be plotting terrorist attacks on the Cuban government.

Lesnick and the Alianza Martiana, named after Cuban independence hero José Martí, have paid for two previous advertisements in defense of the Havana intelligence agents. Both drew strong complaints from some Cuban exiles. One was taken down quickly after it appeared on a billboard at the Miami City Casino, on 37th Avenue and 4th Street NW. The other appeared about two weeks later on the pages of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald.

International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 Announces

The attack on Ozzie Guillen shows the Cuban 5could never receive a fair trial in MiamiThe avalanche of criticism and completeintolerance surrounding statements from FloridaMarlin's manager Ozzie Guillen in Time Magazinecertainly demonstrates how anyone who says anycomment even remotely favorable to Cuba will beviciously attacked by right wing anti Cubancircles in Miami. This is a clear example as towhy the Cuban 5, who infiltrated right-wing exilegroups in Miami in the mid-nineties to stop theirplans for violence against the island, and whoended up serving lengthy sentences in U.S.Prisons, couldn't have possibly received a fair trial in Miami.

Alicia Jrapko, of the International Committee forthe Freedom of the Cuban 5 stated, "Those groupsin Miami, who have made careers out of howlingabout the lack of freedom of speech in Cuba, havenow fully exposed themselves in the case of OzzieGuillen. They have shown that it is they who willnot tolerate a person's opinion if it does notline up with their backward way of thinking aboutCuba. If he could be so vilified and forced torepent it shows there is no way the Cuban 5 couldreceive a fair trial in that city."

Lawrence Wilkerson, Colonel, US Army (Retired)and former chief of staff to Secretary of StateColin Powell, wrote, "The only reason there issuch a hue and cry over Guillen's remarks is thedeadly stranglehold over Miami politicsmaintained by hard-line Cuban-Americans. Thissame deadly stranglehold ensured the Cuban Fivewere railroaded to jail with sentences their'crimes' did not in any way warrant."

The Cuban 5 were arrested in 1998 and althoughthey made no threats or injury to anyone andthere was no transfer of U.S. governmentdocuments or classified material, the Cuban 5were convicted on conspiracy to commit espionagecharges and sentenced originally to four lifesentences and 77 years in U.S. prisons.

On August 9, 2005, a three judge panel of the11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlantacommented on the political atmosphere that existsin Miami: "Here, a new trial was mandated by theperfect storm created when the surge of pervasivecommunity sentiment, and extensive publicity bothbefore and during the trial, merged with theimproper prosecutorial references." Thesefederal judges affirmed "the perception thatthese groups could harm jurors that rendered averdict unfavorable to their views was palpable."

Activists from around the U.S. and internationalrepresentatives working for the freedom of theCuban 5 are gathering for five days of activitiesin Washington, DC next week from April 17th tothe 21st. They will demand that President Obamafree the Cuban 5 who have been in U.S. prisons now for more than 13 years.

To see the full schedule of events and activitiesplus a list of endorsers for 5 days for the Cuban 5 go to www.thecuban5.org

Break the Chains.info

is a news and discussion forum for supporters of political prisoners, prisoners of war, politicized social prisoners, and victims of police and state intimidation.

This blog is organized and updated autonomously of the disbanded Break the Chains Prisoner Support Network formerly based in Eugene, Oregon. While this online project shares several of the same concerns as the old Break the Chains collective, no formal organization exists behind the current web presence.

"I will never surrender my pride and dignity nor allow the system to 'cut my tongue' and I will always, without fear, speak out against these war crimes and crimes against humanity, no matter if I spend the rest of my life in a prison cage, and draw my last breath of air laying down in this steel bed surrounded by razor-wire fences and cages, and its prison policies that are designed to destroy one's humanity…."